Panthera atrox, the American lion, roamed North America ten thousand years ago. It was about a third bigger than today's African lions, and it is thought to have had black fur. Once considered a separate species from today's lions, paleontologists now believe that Panthera atrox was simply a subspecies. According to this view, today's lions of Africa and Asia are exactly the same species as both the cave lion of southern Europe (an animal that may have persisted until about 400 BC in small pockets) and the presumably extinct American lion. All these varieties of lion were merely subspecies of the same lion species we have today.

This raises hopes among cryptozoologists that very small pockets of undetected surviving lions may explain the numerous lion sightings that have persisted in Europe and America for many years. The black color of Panthera atrox especially inspires cryptozoologists that they may have found the solution to the mystery black panthers of America. Hypothetical tan-colored individuals are also used to explain the persistent sightings of American lions.

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